The tale I was told, by a friend who used to work in the film industry, was that the Wachowskis did in fact write a Matrix trilogy as a unified whole, but the s

The tale I was told, by a friend who used to work in the film industry, was that the Wachowskis did in fact write a Matrix trilogy as a unified whole, but the studio felt that a three-movie commitment was too risky and told them to settle for one. The trilogy was therefore abridged and filmed as "The Matrix". After that movie's runaway success, the studio naturally changed their mind and came around asking for parts 2 and 3... which were promptly cobbled together as a single monster sequel over the course of a two-week writing marathon. I have no way to tell how large a kernel of truth this story may contain, but it certainly feels like it could be true.